The immigration bill seems dead — although you never know in Washington. I didn’t think it was a bad bill. Some realistic border enforcement (no expensive useless pork projects walls) and perhaps a two-year window for illegals to get their act in shape before serious enforcement begins: it would have gone through.

What surprised me was the viciousness of the Right. Illegal aliens became the new gays; nothing was too vile to say about them. The Daily Show had a panoply of “conservatives” saying illegals were bringing TB and leprosy while molesting our kids and robbing our banks. All of this was crap, of course.

I think what happened was that the conservatives finally lost it. This wasn’t really about the illegals. They were simply caught in the crossfire of a Republican conniption fit. Bush’s supporters — his few remaining supporters — had seen him trample over states’ rights, limited government, individual liberty, federal restraint and any other true conservative principle you can nominate. And they finally lost it. Now that he’s a lame duck, they felt free to let go of the frustration that’s been building for six years.

Well that and that Bush’s supporters — his few remaining supporters — are the most extreme wing of the party.